I watch a lot of news, and one thing that strikes me is how rarely the pundits attempt to factor in the unexpected. And yet we know from the past that...

Stressing education, drug treatment and job placement isn't about "coddling" criminals; it's about expanding the tax base and reducing the poverty that causes the majority of crime in the first place.

I've served nine-and-a-half months, including four months at the California Institute for Men at Chino -- the very prison torn apart by rioting last weekend.

The skills the inmates develop to survive violent prisons make them dangerous when they are released. You can't cage men like animals and then expect them to be model citizens when they return home.